Only the Best
by 17stepsdown
Summary: Many years before Ichigo's birth, the 1st generation of Espada's had fallen extremely low in number. To fix this problem, Aizen created a tournament that would choose Las Noche's next Espada's. Ulquiorra was fortunate enough to be chosen and must now try to get a spot in the Espada's, along with Szayel and another curious fellow he met along the way. Grimmulqui along the side.
1. Chapter 1

**Only the best**

**Sick Beginnings**

**(edited some stuff)**

Ulquiorra sighed as the sun began to light up. It was morning again in Las Noches, but not one he particularly wanted to wake up to.

He was sick, had the cold and from what Szayel told him, it was still weak enough to still alow him to do combat. Problem was, flu's hindered breathing and Szayel advised him to take it easy. Szayel was his best friend. If you could call him that. Knew plenty and was quite helpful in curtain times. Szayel however had recently become obsessed with combat and how to fight. Ulquiorra could understand though for Szayel had wanted to join the elite squad called the Espada. Espada were gifted warriors, gifted killers and perfect asassins. Szayel had tried to enter twice but failed both times. Ulquiorra had to feel some synpathy for him, how could he not? Wanted to be an Espada for years now and still couldn't make it.

Ulquiorra couldn't help but notice that the hallways were a bit empty today. What was going on? Was there something important today? Or was everyone just sleeping in? Ulquiorra hoped everyone was just sleeping in, that way, it wouldn't look weird that he would be doing the same. No one would think he was sick.

The hallways were deafly quiet. Ulquiorra sniffed the air in search of a recent scent. Surprisingly, there were many. People have been been here, in large groups as well. He didn't recognize any however, the bat didn't really try to socialize with many. He didn't find any interest in them.

Ulquiorra refrained from rubbing his nose and attempted straighten his back, his eyes in a curious sort of glint.

"Unusual..." Ulquiorra murmured.

Immediately, his mind turned from whining about sickness to curiosity. Nobody seemed panick, the scents left behind smelled of excitement. What was going on?

Ulquiorra followed the scents. They all seemed to be going in the same place. It wasn't long before he picked something up. He heard a faint sound. Sounded like a crowd.

_Is there a announcement that I didn't get? I hope not, I'd prefer that there isn't._

He walked on, following the scent like a dog. It wasn't until he saw the arrancar twins run by that he got curious, _real _curious.

"Excuse me!" He called out.

Ying and Yang stopped, annoyance on their faces.

"What is it?"

"Make it quick! We got to be somewhere."

They both put their hands on their hips, annoyed by Ulquiorra. Ulqiorra knew them of course, they didn't know him though. Ulquiorra could tell they had weak spiritual pressure, just above average, not a lot. He could beat them both down in a few seconds.

"What is going on? I woke up late today and I'm wondering why the halls are so quiet."

Yang glanced at Ying.

"I know this guy, he's competing. Tell'm."

Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes at them. Something was up.

"There's going to be a tournament. There was a notification but since it wasn't sent to _everyone, _I doubt you got it."

"Lord Gin is down the hall where all the fuss is about."

"Ask him you're questions."

"Hmph, fine. At least you told me where to go..." Ulquiorra sighed.

Ying and Yang turned to eachother, giggled, then sonidoed off.

He huffed, they thought they were the best and yet they were so much weaker than him. But of all the time he's been here, he never really got into a big fight with anyone. Everyone seemed at least passive towards him. No reason to fight. But to be honest, very few here really gave him a challenge. A few gave him some effort but not enough for him to atleast enjoy the fight.

Ying and Yang though, from what he knew of them from listening to others and their babble. They were top of the line arrancars. A deadly-duo. Perhaps they were stronger than he thought, but they still probably were no match for him.

The scent lead to a large crowd gathered in the hallway. His nose was overun by scents from places in Los Noches he never even been before. From what he knew, he never went beyond what he already knew. Cautious he was, he creeped into the crowd. Many faces that looked...different to him showed up. Different scents and reiatsu made things difficult for him to cope with his cold.

The cold, ah, yes, he remembered now. He had it, and being in a large crowd like this was not helping him. Ulquiorra felt a bit dizzy, sounds were everywhere and his hyper-hearing capabilities weren't helping him. He needed to get out of there.

"ULQUIORRA, WHAT THE HELL!?" Called out a familiar voice.

Not a second sooner, Ulquiorra felt a hand pull him harshly out of the crowd. He hit something hard but he wasn't sure what it was.

Ulquiorra adjusted his eyesight. Pink, then glasses. Yup, it was Szayel.

"What are you doing? You know better than to get into a crowd on a sick day!" He warned.

Ulquiorra felt a bit comforted to finally see someone he knew well. Szayel was his best friend as he said before. And he was also his docter when it came to the point that he couldn't think for himself.

"T-thanks...but I could handle it..."

"Of course you could..." He groaned. "There are people from all over Los Noches here. Different smells. You shouldn't get too close, or else foreign scents may overturn your sensory system. Don't underestimate sickness!" Szayel said as he tried to calm him.

"No, no, it's alright. Just...what's going on?..." Ulquiorra sighed, feeling embarrassed that he had succumb to something so subtle as dizzyness. It was shameful.

Szayel sighed and sat beside his friend.

"Lord-Aizen has issued an announcement. The current Espada are too small in number. Recently, 2 have died and only 1 remains. His name is Arronierro. He is the Noveno Espada and normally keeps his profile low. Because of this, Lord-Aizen has planned a tournament. 32 arrancars shall be participating, hand-picked by Lord-Aizen himself and put in order by Vice Lord-Gin. You want all the information? Because I can only summarize it. I can't give you details."

Ulquiorra sighed, "Yes...do that..."

Szayel inhaled deeply, readying himself for a long explanation.

"The 1st Generation Espada were low in number. So Lord-Aizen planned early for a tournament just in case it ever so happened that the Espada run low. Things were happening, the Espada had run low on number until 1 was left. 3 of the 1st Generation Espada's have been demoted and the rest are dead. Lord-Aizen began planning from there. He gave Vice Lord-Gin planning papers to start the tournament. The purpose of this tournament is to re-build the Espada. That way, they can re-complete it. 32 participants in total. The winner of it all gets to be Primara Espada. The loser is the Segundo Espada."

"What about the Cero Espada?"

"Aizen claims to already have that figured out."

"Hm...well...Ying and Yang, they said I was participating."

Szayel smiled, seeing as how his buddy was back to thinking right.

"Yes, you are. The Tournament is in a week. Starts next Sunday in the morning. Don't worry, your battle isn't first. You're somewhere along the middle of the line."

"I see...that's good I guess. I hope I go against someone good."

Szayel grinned and started daydreaming as he stared at the ceiling.

"I know! I hope I do too!" He squealed excitedly.

Ulquiorra stared at Szayel in shock. Immediately taken out of his sick trance.

"_You're _participating? _You? _But you took the test twice and failed both times!" He nearly gasped.

Szayel turned to him happily. Obviously filled with joy.

"I know! I think Lord-Aizen's giving me a chance! I'm so honoured! You know Ulquiorra, I worked hard to become one of the best and guess what? I got the chance to try again! Do you how how greatful I am!? This feels like making a breakthrough to an experiment! An excellent result! Ha ha!" Szayel laughed maniacally.

Ulquiorra smiled softly. Feeling happy for Szayel, who had worked for such a long time. Then finally got _one _last chance. To become what he admired for so long. He lidded his eyes. What did he want? He had no goal. Oh well, he was never that kind of person.

"That's great. I hope you get a spot in the Espada."

"I do too."

Szayel thought for a moment, and hummed something.

"And I bet you could make it too." Szayel hinted. A glint in his eye.

"Huh? No, sorry. I don't need any of your handywork."- "No! Really! You could make it! With your skills! You may not battle a lot but when you do. You're practically an elite! I'd say nobody has a chance against you!" Szayel mused.

Ulquiorra blushed in embarrassment. He honestly did think of himself as superior but 'nobody has a chance against him?' That might be going overboard.

"That's great...anyway. I'd like to see those matches myself." Ulquiorra mentioned before he attempted to stand up.

"Hey! Hey! You sure you're ready to stand up?"

Ulquiorra glared at Szayel, causing him to flinch.

"What do you take me for? A weakling?"

Szayel stared confusingly for a second, but understood the next and grinned. He stood up aswell.

Szayel followed Ulquiorra and stood up aswell. He dusted off his clothes and thought for a second.

"You know. This is like a new era! The time of the 2nd Generation Espada! I should get some new garments for that! What about you? I could get something for you aswell!"

Ulquiorra shook his head at Szayels offer.

"No. I'm fine. You like that kind of thing, I don't."

"Fine...but at least give me the chance to use a different material! Those clothes must be uncomfortable for you! I think a whiter shade would do aswell to compliment your skin. I think it would be fitting!" Szayel thought out loud.

"Perhaps. I just don't prefer that I actually _get _a different uniform. I like mines, thankyou."

"Okay. Sure! I'll make sure it's soft and comfortable! But don't expect it to be done by tomorrow."

"Don't worry. I won't."

Szayel and Ulquiorra approached the less crowded area. The stared up at the boards and gazed at each and every one of the participants. Ulquiorra scanned them curiously. It was all new to him. It took him a while to process all the information.

His apponent was another arrancar named "Findor". He had blonde hair and head and jaw mask. Ulquiorra wasn't sure who he was but it wasn't like he cared much at the moment.

"You're up against Findor I see." Szayel mentioned.

"You know him?"

"No. I actually have never heard of him."

"Then why did you mention?" Ulquiorra sighed, dissipointed.

"Why not?"

Ulquiorra looked over to Szayels side. He was facing what looked to be a male that is either gender confused or had a imagary problem when he was born. He furrowed his eyebrows. His name was "Charlotte". What was this guy?

"Um...you're apponent is...interesting? I should say?"

Szayel turned from perky to desgusted as he turned to look at the picture.

"I know...he's desgusting. That look doesn't appeal to me! I mean look at him! What does he think he is? A woman? Not saying _all_ girls look like that but honestly! What a bad taste in fashion!" He ranted.

Szayel always had prefferences. Prefferences that often involved being specific about things. Szayel always had a taste in fashion. Despite his hobby at invention, research, and experiment, he also was very passionate about fashion. Anyone that had dissiproving clothing, Szayel immediately dissiproved of. Szayel liked Ulquiorra probably for the same reason. He wasn't sure why or what was so appealing about his normal uniform, it wasn't anything special. Looked much like everything else, the only difference is he had a straight zip and coattails. Szayel often said that the way a person is clothed says something about who they are. He claimed that his own clothes said that he, himself was scientific and experimental. He claimed that Ulquiorra's clothes said he was neat and proffessional.

Ulquiorra didn't believe in that kind of thing. But he had to say, Szayel was kind of right.

"He looks so stuck up and broody!"

_Yeah, like you aren't..._

Ulquiorra zoned out of Szayels rant about how dis-tasteful and badly fashioned Charlotte was. He began to see some of the other battles. Who else was it? The only information given about each competitor was their name. That was it.

"I speculate that Lord-Aizen may be impressed to see whether we simply wait or actually gather information about our apponents before battle. What do you have to say about it?"

The researcher simply stuck out his tongue as if he tasted something bad. Acting very exaggerated about how much he hated his apponent.

"I say I'll be a sitting duck. I already know all I need to know about my apponent from their picture..."

"Szayel, you can't be serious. You're not like that."

"Of course not! I _will _observe him! But I won't enjoy it! My only reason is to secure myself a win in the tournament! I don't care about what place I get! As long as I'm in, I'll be happy!"

"Yes...of course..."

AN: I'm trying to get this accurate, other than the Grimmulqui stuff in it, I'm trying my best to get the history of Las Noches are accurate as possible. This is my first story posted so please go easy! Oh yeah, there'll be chapters.

-17stepsdown

All characters belong to Tite Kubo


	2. Granz Brothers

**Chapter 2: Granz Brothers**

The day had gone by not very much. Ulquiorra didn't really care much for who was fighting who anyway, he barely knew anyone here. To be honest really, Szayel couldn't really be called his best if technically Szayel really is his only friend. A sad story really but Ulquiorra wasn't really into those so he didn't care much for it.

For all he knew, hundreds of arrancars lived in Las Noches and only 32 were picked. This was bound to lead to some kind of lash back against Aizen. Arrancar's all over would give their limbs to be part of the squad and not being given the chance would put any to their boiling point. Luckily, Ulquiorra didn't desire such a thing, he didn't care much for something he was sure he would never get before. But now, given the chance, he was confident he might be able to do it. His hopes weren't as high as others though, to get what you want you'd have to work for it, and that's exactly what Ulquiorra was planning to do.

Szayel had recently lost interest in the match-ups. Ulquiorra didn't think that he had gotten over the thing with Charlotte but the whole idea of hating your opponent just because of how they look, kinda stupid.

Now, Ulquiorra was simply watching people walk by, he wasn't planning leaving, just in case something happens. But he didn't expect it to happen really, besides, in a boring one-task place, what _could _happen.

"Oi! Szayel! Brother!"

Szayel looked up, his eyes held a curious glint but they could be seen behind his glasses. The voice was familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it...it was on the end of his tongue...dang, who was it?

A hand protruded from the crowd, several people were suddenly pushed out of the way, creating a chain reaction of people giving disturbed expressions. The hand waved to them, Szayel kept looking, he gave up on thinking, he'd just have to see who emerges.

The hand dipped into the crowd and pushed one last guy. A guy with long blonde hair and red eyes emerged, he had his mask remains atop his head like a broken mask and wore a standard uniform. He looked excited.

Ulquiorra leaned over to avoid looking at Szayel's back. He furrowed his eyebrows curiously.

"Szayel, who is that?"

A drop of sweat trickled down his forehead nervously. He fixed his glasses like he always does when either amused or bothered.

"...That is...my older brother..." He seemingly grumbled.

"Hm?"

"...Yylfort..." He murmured again.

_**Granz Brothers**_

"I didn't expect to see you here Brother!" Yylfort said perkily.

Szayel narrowed his eyes at Yylfort. This was indeed an unexpected meeting.

"Neither did I..."

"Szayel..." Ulquiorra interrupted. "...he's your older brother?"

The scientist gave Ulquiorra a careless glance before hesitantly looking at Yylfort.

"Yes, he is. Though it's not like I'll ever accept him as one." Szayel scowled.

Yylfort gave a sad expression, though it was obviously a mockery.

"Aww, so it's like that, eh Brother? And after all these years we've spent apart, I leave my lovely home to walk all the way here, barge through a crowd, yell out to you and this is what I get? Quite sour if you ask me." He smirked as he put his hand on his hip.

"Does look like I really care? Whatever you're thinking, the fact is still that for those many years I've stayed away from you, I've enjoyed my time."

"Oh really?" Yylfort frowned.

"Quite yes."

Ulquiorra felt left out, but he had no intentions of interrupting further. The moment he heard that Yylfort was Szayel's brother he expected a warm welcome or at least a friendly conversation. Instead, Szayel replied coldly towards Yylfort, giving Ulquiorra the hint that whatever relationship these two had, it was most-definitely not a positive one.

He would make sure not to provoke either of them unless brought in. His attention was focused on Szayel, he had never seen him like this. However, Ulquiorra wouldn't be surprised if the reason Szayel seemed happier with him was just an act. Ulquiorra was well aware of Szayel's true nature but never spoke of it, he'd simply tolerate it. He'd been doing so ever since he first met him.

He stepped back, there was only so much he could do.

Szayel glared at Yylfort. Constantly wishing for him to burn on the spot. Perhaps an even _more _violent death? Yes, that would be satisfying...

Yylfort smirked at Szayel, mocking him.

"What's with the face? You're beginning to worry your dear brother." Yylfort joked.

"Like I said, no matter what kind of expression you put up, I won't fall for it."

"Wow! That breaks my heart Brother!" He mocked sarcastically.

"Sorry, I did break anything else?" Szayel grinned, "Perhaps your stomach or even your lungs? Any bones? You really shouldn't say such things! People might take advantage of you, and that would begin to worry your _dear _brother!" He joked sarcastically.

Yylfort scowled, grumbling insults. He wasn't in that perky mood anymore, Szayel was getting the best of him. His mind thought frantically for a comeback, he couldn't think pf anything.

He looked to Ulquiorra, Ulquiorra glared. He had never seen Szayel's brother before so he was weary. Not once did Ulquiorra think Szayel had a brother, or a remaining family member at all. He guessed this was the power of the Granz. The thought of the two coaporating in battle seemed ludicrous for those two continued to refuse to even have a decent conversation.

Yylfort glanced at Ulquiorra.

"What're you looking at? You scared?" He grinned.

"Scared? Fear isn't necessary when facing a fool." He hissed.

"A tough guy huh? You surprise me Brother. I didn't think you'd manage to make even a single friend throughout your life here. It's amazing really."

"You're beginning to annoy me." Szayel grumbled.

Yylfort huffed, he turned to Ulquiorra and began to walk towards him. Szayel's eyes followed curiously at what he was going to do. Ulquiorra merely glared long and hard at Yylfort, suspicious of his actions.

"Still tell me little brother, who is this?"

"A friend."

"A friend indeed but what's his name?" He hovered his hand over the Ulquiorra's shoulder.

Ulquiorra was quick to shove Yylfort away from him. He did not want to be touched.

"My name is Ulquiorra, and I'd rather you not touch me."

The gesture seemed hint enough at his annoyance but Ulquiorra wasn't finished. For Szayel grinned when he reminded himself that Ulquiorra _really _didn't like it when other people touch him. A sinister smirk grew on his face, showing amusement. His brother was in for it now.

Ulquiorra stared as he uncapped his reiatsu. It wasn't long before Yylfort was overwhelmed by spirit energy.

Yylforts eyes widened as he fell to his knees, unable to stand. His breathing was hindered, he stared at the ground in shock. A hand came up to his chest as he felt it pain, the air was getting heavier and heavier. It wasn't long before breathing was like trying to breath underwater.

"_G-ah_._..what the?!" _He gasped.

Szayel was well aware of the kind of suffering Yylfort was going through, but not a hint of worry for his sibling was felt. But it wasn't like he didn't feel worried at all, he knew that the killing of another arrancar without the approval of an Espada was prohibited in Las Noches. He could only let this drag on for a while.

"I'll have you know, I _don't _like it when people touch me. This is the punishment!"

He fixed his glasses.

"That's enough Ulquiorra, I know you're uncomfortable but we don't want to kill him." He warned.

On Szayels order, Ulquiorra calmed down by closing his eyes and exhaling calmly. The weight was thrown off Yylforts back. He began to gasp in breath, some drool came out of his mouth and dripped to the floor.

Crowds around them began to grow as they all stared in shock at Ulquiorra's work. Their eyes frightened with fear an intimidation. Some gasped before gazing up at Ulquiorra.

The raven opened his eyes and glared at the crowd.

"What're you all looking at? There's **nothing** to see." He growled darkly, he burned his reiatsu in a warning.

The crowd was shot with fear again, some continued to stare but the majority chose to continue to go about their day. It wasn't long before not a single one dared to look Ulquiorra's way, sweat trickled down their faces as they cowered in fear. Nobody wanted to mess with a guy like that.

Ulquiorra huffed and averted his gaze. He narrowed his eyes again as he glared once again at Yylfort.

Yylfort was struggling to get back on his feet. Once one foot was safely planted on the ground, he smirked. He still held on to his chest, there was still pain but pain wasn't a foreign thing to him. His body was shiny with cold sweat, and it happened only for a minute.

He breathed heavily.

"...You remind me-*breath- of another-*breath- guy I know...*breath"

His voice was raspy.

His statement peaked the other two's interest. Szayel was interested the most, what was his stupid brother rambling on about now?

Yylfort managed to stand up again, he still was heaving but overall okay. As he stood up, he swayed slightly, the rush of blood to his head overwhelmed him for a second. He put his hand up to his temple as he tried to massage his headache. Once finished, his eyes opened halfway at the two, he smiled.

"That reiatsu...so you're one of _those _guys huh? Brother?"

"I have no idea what you mean. Speak up." Szayel demanded.

Yylfort frowned, "I wasn't talking to you."

"I don't understand, what does that mean?" Ulquiorra demanded in Szayels place.

Yylfort smiled again.

"It means you remind me of somebody I know. He also has reiatsu like that but _far _more powerful..." He nearly laughed.

_Powerful? Wait. Is he talking about __**him**__? _Ulquiorra's blood began to rush, trying to figure out who Yylfort was referring to.

"But he really is nothing like you in sense. Other than power, he prefers a fair fight."

_A fair fight? No, that's not part of his nature. It can't be __**him. **_

Szayel was thinking about the same thing, but his thoughts were far more frantic.

"You two seem eager, if you'd like, me and my friends are planning to go to the tournament..." He seemed to talk fine now, "...We're going to the third floor so if you want to meet him, why not come? I'm sure he'll be _ecstatic _to meet _you...brother..._"

Before anyone could say anything, Yylfort had disappeared. He used sonidoe to retreat, Szayel knew it. Yylfort was always one to run away like a pussy, he had no shame. That was one reason why Szayel was not fond of him.

"Szayel."

"Hm?"

"You don't seem to like your sibling. Was there a problem?"

Szayel turned away from Ulquiorra and continued to fiddle with his glasses.

"No."

Ulquiorra blinked.

"There was no problem, not at all."

AN: Wow, jeeze, I wonder who "_**Him**_" is!

*Sigh, didn't get any sleep last night. I've been up for two days only sleeping for a few hours now. I'm still trying to figure out how works so that's technically what I've been doing in my spare time. It took me a while to figure out how to add chapters...

I had to rewrite a lot of stuff cause well, this story wasn't written for , it started out as something I did for fun but it became kinda serious by chapter 10. Yeah, I got 10 chapters but it was reduced to 7 when I had to rewrite it. Why I had to rewrite it? Cause when I wrote this, it was pretty screwed up. Had some of the most unnecessary stuff in it. Really _weird _stuff...so yeah.

It was nice to meet you! Until next chapter! - 17stepsdown

Oh right, today is July 31! Happy Birthday Grimmjow! Congratulations on another year alive in Bleach!


	3. Not Everyone is Happy

**Solo Negocios**

**Just Business**

It was morning again.

Ulquiorra woke up to the sound of marker on paper. His mind was blank, like most people's when you just wake up after a good night's sleep.

He groaned softly, Ulquiorra wasn't a very high tolerance person, he didn't like being touched more than he hated waking up. In general, anything that would signifacantly provoke him, he simply could not stand.

His eyes adjusted to the light, he was facing the wall. Quietly, he forced himself to sit up, the rush of blood to his head made him feel slightly hazy. It was dim for morning, few lights pierced the darkness, but it wasn't anything unusual. Living in a lab, things were always dark, he had long gotten used to wondering what time it was. Turning his head, he looked around, blinking a few times. Same old room, same as usual. Same old bed stand nearby, same old shelf with books alligned. Same old blank white walls, same old sword stand in the corner of the room.

Sighing, Ulquiorra pulled away the sheets and swung his legs over the side of the warm bed. He sat there for a while, still getting used to being awake. Blinking a few times again, he began to wonder where those squeking marker sounds were coming from. They seemed to come from the next room.

He stood up, wearing only his hakama. He didn't wear anything particular to bed, just cause he lived in a pricey lab didn't mean he got all the luxuries he'd ever want. Instead, all he got was a simple room with it's own bathroom attached. Everything was Szayel's domain, and Ulquiorra got very little to do with it all.

The usual morning routine was practiced as Ulquiorra walked into the bathroom with his jacket he kept at the foot of he bed. Twenty minutes or so later, he came out all ready for the day.

As he walked out, hands in his pockets, he glanced at the sword stand, wondering if he should take it with him today. An early morning spar at the training fields sounded like a good idea, afterall, he planned on practicing for the upcoming tournament anyway. With his mind all made up, he grabbed his Zanpakuto and headed out, closing the door behind him.

First task of the day: find out where that annoying sound is coming from. He checked Szayels room, there was no sign of life, also, the sound didn't come from here. Finished peeking into his room, he turned away and headed for the laboratory.

Inside, he found exactly what he was looking for.

Szayel was in the laboratory, he had plenty of papers on a board in front of him stuck to the wall. Each one represented pieces of a machine, but what kind of machine? He sat down on his spinning chair and seemed to be extremely concentrated on his work.

Szayel looked up from his paper towards Ulquiorra. He then noticed the sword he was carrying.

"Ah, Ulquiorra, up and early I see. You going somewhere?"

Ulquiorra glanced at the large paper with diagrams all over it. Extremely details diagrams drawn in black marker. Had Szayel not thought of using a pencil? A nice, quiet, pencil?

"I'm deciding to take Mercielago out to go train." He paused. "Did you stay up all night? What are those for?"

"Oh, these?" Szayel replied glancing at his work.

He smiled and put down his marker, his hand hovered over the paper.

"They're plans for the construction over at the arena. Lord-Aizen himself asked me personally to help with the construction. He wanted my design and asked for my advice."

"Lord-Aizen did that? When?" Ulquiorra asked curiously, perking at the idea that his best friend got Aizen's attention.

Szayel turned back to his friend.

"He asked me last night, I was given the message while you went to sleep early yesterday. I was requested to go to the throne room and discuss matters with him. I'm trying my hardest not to brag..." He ended the sentence off shyly, probably overwhelmed in happiness at the thought that Aizen had asked for anything from him.

Ulquiorra decided not to ask too much further, though, construction like this seemed like a big job. Of course Aizen didn't expect Szayel to do all of this himself, right?

"What's that supposed to be?"

"This isn't really a big deal, it's the blueprint for the rising platform. The pillars are going to rise in the arena for the opening ceremony and to assist the fighters. They'll be replaceable."

"Opening ceremony? Sounds quite unneeded for a arrancar tournament."

"It's an event isn't it? Every show needs an opening, I don't really see the problem."

"You're always into that stuff..."

Looking elsewhere, Ulquiorra turned around and headed back into the large hallway. Szayel was quite famous, even now he was still the subject to many conversations for his great accomplishments. Because of that, Szayel owned a big lab in their north region, though, it wasn't the biggest one to offer. There was a huge lab in the Espada HQ in the middle of Las Noches that even Szayel didn't have access to. Though Ulquiorra and many others thought that he greatly deserved it, that lab was reserved for Espada and Espada only. Szayel was not part of the Espada, so he just got the second largest one to offer.

It was nice to know that Szayel was getting acknowledged for his work, but that would matter little now, because the tournament depended on how well you could fight and just being a great researcher wouldn't get you anything here. Hopefully Szayel would do well, he wasn't much of a fighter. Ulquiorra would hope much for him.

Their hallway met up with the main halls of their home. Though it was early morning, the place was already buzzling with excitement.

Ulquiorra whitnessed a group of friends mock eachother by shoving. They seemed to have fun in their little gestures, a bunch of rowdy young boys. Another boy in their little group of 4 was roughly pushed to the wall, instead of lashing out, he simply laughed and shoved the guy who pushed him.

It confused him, how could they enjoy something like that? Surely if somebody did that to him he would do the same thing he did to Yylfort yesterday to them.

The thought made him wander to yesterday. How he had gotten annoyed by Yylfort for touching him, he didn't trust a lot of people. Szayel tried to relieve his phobia by trying to force him to trust people but it ended in failure. Ulquiorra just plain didn't trust people and even Szayel wasn't able to get him to do so. Yesterday, after those events, Yylfort told him that he reminded him of a guy he knew. Ulquiorra wondered who it was, the idea of meeting someone like him seemed interesting. Yylfort had invited them to meet on the 3rd floor, Ulquiorra definitely wanted to go, but he wasn't sure about Szayel.

"Hey, move it!"

A large guy with shadowed eyes shoved him. Ulquiorra stepped back immediately and looked up, he had a helmet mask and large tusks attached to it. There were wavy teal marks under his eyes and he seemed quite husky. On his square face was a large crooked scowl. Alongside him walked another arrancar. This one seemed quite passive, he was shorter than Ulquiorra but seemed to strut slightly, head held high. He had a mask shaped like an animal skull, he had to guess it was a Smilodon Fatalis. Those went extinct in the human world thousands of years ago.

They walked together somewhere, Ulquiorra had never seen their faces around before.

The shorter guy sneered at Ulquiorra, it made him glare. As his eyes followed the two, he noticed some people were keeping their distance from them. Others were shoved out of the way, one woman was shoved into the wall harshly.

Ulquiorra cocked his head slightly at the two, they seemed like trouble. He didn't want to draw attention to himself like he did yesterday so he didn't react. He began to wonder what Szayel would do to them if he told him...he'd keep that in mind.

Oh well, not much he could do about them now anyway, he'd head out now. Ulquiorra pushed the thought of the two to the back of his mind when he spun around to shove off to the training feilds, he now thought of what the guy at the stadium would look like. From what he knew, powerful arrancars came in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes the most unlikely people would turn out to be powerhouses.

"_I'm he'd be ecstatic to meet __**you**__...Brother..."_

He'd expect a lot, better not dissipoint him.

The open dunes were not too far off, sparkly yellow was too bright to look directly at. Good thing the sand wasn't the only thing to look at.

He watched as a building was cut in half, appearing on the other side were two arrancars at battle. Their blades swung forward and clashed with eachother, a frustrated grunt came out of the two before they both leapt back to keep their distance. An even match.

Numerous flickering reiatsu's were active here, the dunes outside the living quarters proved popular, thanks to the event yesterday plenty of people were pumped to show what they had in the tournament. Everyone was training, all except Ulquiorra and Szayel.

Ulquiorra didn't want to be left out, therefore, he advanced towards the entrance.

"Hold it right there."

AN: Reviews sound kinda nice right now...so does sleep...-17stepsdown


End file.
